You don't get anymore indie then Belle And Sebastian. Listen to Belle And Sebastian. And Blur. And Pulp. And The Shins, and watch Brick and The Royal Tenenbaums. Then read some Murakami and read Catcher In The Rye, and look at comics by Tomine and Clowes. Only then can you join the Royal Indie Society.

Richardtock, your entire post confounds me beyond belief. What the hell are you talking about. And maybe define your conception of "indie" to better explain things. I always thought of it as a broad genre of independent music that is either too shitty to get onto a record label or is just simply unknown/unpopular.
But now you're throwing out Catcher in the Rye? Jesus tap-dancing christ!

Richardtock, your entire post confounds me beyond belief. What the hell are you talking about. And maybe define your conception of "indie" to better explain things. I always thought of it as a broad genre of independent music that is either too shitty to get onto a record label or is just simply unknown/unpopular.
But now you're throwing out Catcher in the Rye? Jesus tap-dancing christ!

Hehe, as if there aren't signed musicians who aren't shitty and/or fit the cookie cutter model that most labels seem to try to latch on to?

You don't get anymore indie then Belle And Sebastian. Listen to Belle And Sebastian. And Blur. And Pulp. And The Shins

Dude, Blur's label in the US is fuckin' Virgin, and Pulp is on Island, which is owned by PolyGram, neither of which are indie labels. Also, The Royal Tenenbaums was put out by Buena Vista, which is owned by Disney, so I don't think that really fits the criteria either.

Hehe, as if there aren't signed musicians who aren't shitty and/or fit the cookie cutter model that most labels seem to try to latch on to?

Well, like any other art form, I guess you can't really judge musicians as "shitty" since it all comes down to taste. But what I mean is that I can imagine some bands clinging to the label of "indie" to compensate for their... "musical inexperience" (didn't say shitty). And I'm sure many bands that eventually become popular enough to be offered a record deal jump for the opportunity, to the misfortune of their raving fans who accuse them as "selling out"

Hehe, as if there aren't signed musicians who aren't shitty and/or fit the cookie cutter model that most labels seem to try to latch on to?

Well, like any other art form, I guess you can't really judge musicians as "shitty" since it all comes down to taste. But what I mean is that I can imagine some bands clinging to the label of "indie" to compensate for their... "musical inexperience" (didn't say shitty). And I'm sure many bands that eventually become popular enough to be offered a record deal jump for the opportunity, to the misfortune of their raving fans who accuse them as "selling out"

True, can't argue much with taste. Sorry for misunderstanding, if at all, I get what you're saying now though.

Anyhoo, I can't spend every minute of my day continuously poring for new music to listen to. I guess I'm just being lazy

In England, Indie is more a genre of music, including stuff like Britpop, rather then strictly being on an independant label. I was kinda trying to be ironic, to a degree, too. All those things are typical "indie"

Let's face it...indie hasn't meant "independent" for a long, long time now.

It's become nothing but an exercise in one-upsmanship and hipster snobbery.

I mean, come on, John Mayer's Inside Wants Out was pure indie before Sony picked it up, and only a fuckin' imbecile is going to accuse DCfC of no longer being indie just because they do iTunes exclusives, were on The OC Mix and released a record with Atlantic.

Indie kids are beginning to remind me of diehard Radiohead fans - and that's not a good thing.

That said, The Notwist is still my favorite "indie" group. Neon Golden was such a startlingly good album that it convinced me to go and buy all five previous ones (although finding some of them on vinyl was a serious pain).

I think we all know that it's too narrow to say that "indie" applies only to independant music, a vaguely-defined culture has grown out of it, which includes cool things like the catcher in th rye and lame things like musical snobbery._________________"You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?"